In Safigitaparijata, Ahobala Has Described in Detail About 125 Ragas Giving Under Each, the Notation of the Same
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CHAPTER V RACTAS TREATED BY AHOBALA In Safigitaparijata, Ahobala has described in detail about 125 ragas giving under each, the notation of the same. According to him, ragas are innumerable, but he has describ ed only one hundred and twenty five for the sake of con venience. He has selected only such ragas which were popular, and were recognised in the particular regions, the tunes of which they represented, Ahobala himself "has not given any classification of ragas. But classification of ragas according to Thatas or Melas seems to have been in vogue in his time. Although he has not given any systematic classification of ragas, in some cases he mentions the Mela from which the raga has originated, such as, for example, Gaurimelasamutpanna,Kalyanamelasambhuta etc. The reason why Ahobala has not given a systematic classi. fication of ragas is not apparent. That would have facilitat ed better study of his ragas. It is not that he has been silent about the Mela topic altogether. He has given enough information about melas. He has defined Mela as group of notes capable of producing ragas (SP 329). Mela is a broader term than raga. Melas are too many. Ahobala has given their number as 113^0, Ahobala's contention has been referred to by Pandit Hrdayanarayana Deva in his Hrdayakautaka, when he 2lf6 2^7 said that tnelas were numerous, but for the purpose of his classification, he had taken only twelve. Ahobala states that oielas can be described not only with reference to Buddha notes, but also Vikrta or modified notes. This concept is nearer to the modern thata concept, which includes modified notes also. Further, Ahobala's melas are not only Sampurna, that is, hav ing all the seven notes, but also Sadava (having six notes) and Auduva (having five notes). In fact, a mela should have all the .seven notes, so that ragas resembling the same note struc- ture could be classified under it. Other authors of the medieval age who had accepted the theory of classification of ragas according to melas, had their melas of seven notes only. It is Ahobala alone who speaks of hexatonic and pentatonic melas also. There is one more thing Ahobala speaks about melas. He says that melas should be understood with reference to the initial (notes of the) Murcchanas (SP 330), Melas have been described in terms of their note structure, while the mention of the mlircchana in the description of the raga indicates the starting note of the raga; e,g, the mention of 'Dhaivatadi Murcchana' in the description of the raga Saindhava (V.357) indicates that the starting note of the raga for ascent is Dha. This is clearly seen from the prastara given by Ahobala below the raga. Ahobala has not given any description of any of the melas, the mention whereof has been made by him while 21+8 describing some of his ragas. From the survey of his raga chapter, it is observed that in connection with about 50 Per cent of his ragas, he has mentioned the melas, and about a similar number of ragas, he has not given the melas at all. The melas mentioned by him number about eighteen; they are: Suddha mela, Gauri, Mukhari, Bhairavi, Todi, Kalyana, Varatl, Malava, Saakarabharana, Saranga, Kedara Velavali, Abhiri, Sriraga, Kambodhi, Samanta, Hindola and Nata, None of these melas have been defined anywhere in Sangitaparijata, nor their note structure given. It is however possible to deduce the same from the note structures of the ragas classified under them. Whenever a raga of the same name of the mela, has been described with details of its notes, one may presume, that the notes structure of the mela is the same as that of the raga. Let us take the case of Gauri Mela, for example. In verses 366 and 367 description of ragini Gauri has been given, Gauri takes Komala Ri, Koraala Dha, Tivra Ga, Tivra Ni, Suddha Ma (Sa & Pa are fixed notes, with no modifications). Thus the notes of Gauri raga are Sa, Ri, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni. On the basis of this, one may deduce that the notes of Gauri mela are also the same. Likewise, the description of other melas can also be deduced. But before proceeding to it, it is necessary to understand what notes have been used by Ahobala in describing his ragas. It has been seen earlier that Ahobala admits of seven Suddha Svaras and twentytwo Vikrta Svaras i.e. in all 2h9 y twentynine Svaras. He has described bis notes with reference to the twentytwo Srutis. Except the fourth Sruti Chandovati and 17th Sruti Alapini denoting respectively Sa and Pa which are immutable according to the theory followed by Ahobala, all other Srutis denote the Vikrta notes of Ahobala. Naturally, some of his Vikrtas overlap other Suddha notes (except Sa & Pa); for instance, his Vikrta note Purva Ga, standing on 7th Sruti Raktika overlaps Suddha Ri, which also stands on the same Sruti, Calculation of twentytwo Vikrtas would no doubt be a mark of scholarly achievement, but it must have certainly presented him with difficulties in describing his ragas. And he had to take recourse to the theory of elimination. He has stated that the ten notes Purva Ri, Tivra Ri, Tivratara Ga, Tlvratama Ga, Tivra Ma, Tivratama Ma, Purva Dha, Tivra Dha, Tivratara Ni, and Tivra Ni, have been dropped by him in the description of the ragas (V, U-97 to ^99). In this way he describes his ragas with seven Suddha and twelve Vikrta notes. Incidentally, it may be observed that the following five notes overlap the notes indicated against them: Purva Ga - Corresponding to Suddha Ri Tivratara Ri - Corresponding to Suddha Ga Atitivratama Ga - Corresponding to Suddha Ma Purva Ni - Corresponding to Suddha Dha Tivratara Dha - Corresponding to Suddha Ni 250 Two more Vikrta notes Komala Ga and Komala Ni, corres- pond respectively to Tivra Ri and Tivra Dha, which have been already dropped by him. However, he has used Komala Ga and Komala in the description of few ragas (e.g. V. ^88 & ^90). Thus, if the overlapping of notes is taken into account, actually only 12 notes (7 Suddha and 5 Vikrta) are seen to have been used by him in describing his ragas. These notes, and their equivalents in modern Hindustani music, are as under: Ahobala Current Hindustani Music guddha Sa Buddha Sa Komala Ri Komala Ri Buddha Ri Buddha Ri Buddha Ga Komala Ga Tivra Ga Buddha Ga Buddha Ma Suddha Ma Tivratara Ma Tivra Ma Suddha Pa Suddha Pa Komala Dha Komala Dha Suddha Dha Suddha Dha Buddha Ni Komala Ni Tivra Ni S'uddha Ni There is one more thing to be known about Ahobala* s treatment of ragas. He has declared that he has dealt with his ragas in accordance with the Hanumat-Mata, or the theory 251 propounded by sage Hanurnat (V,333). Hanumat-Mata has actually appeared in connection with classification of ragas, into ragas, wives, sons and daughters-in-law. Ahobala has not given classification of his ragas in any form. Still he declares himself as the follower of Hanumat-Mata. Obviously there must be some other aspects of music also coming under the scope of the Mata, as for example the description of the ragas. The first raga given by Ahobala is 'Saindhava' (V,357). This raga comes from the Suddha Mela. Suddha mela, like all other melas referred to by him, has not been described any where. It can hew ever be ta}cen for granted that the mela which takes all Suddha Svaras is a Suddha mela. Leaving aside Sa and Pa which do not admit of any modification, other notes viz, Ri, Ga, Ma, Dha, Ni are Suddha in this mela. Now, the Suddha Ga and Ni of Ahobala (who follows Locana in this respect) are the modern Komala Ga & Ni. Accordingly, the Suddha Mela of Ahobala, like that of Ragatarangini of Locana, will be Sa, Ri, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni, i.e, like modern Kafi Thata. Thus Raga Saindhava will have Ga and Ni Komala as per modern tera inology, and other notes Suddha. Other details given are: It is Purna, i.e, taking all the seven notes. Even then in Aroha it drops Ga and Ni, It is endowed with repetition of notes and Sphuritd, Gajnaka. It is sung any time of the day. Its Murcchana begins with Dha, That means, the 252 Graha (the starting note) of the Riga is Dha. In accordance with fflodern practice, the Aroha and Avaroha of the raga vail be Sa, Ri, Ma, Pa, Dha, Sa, Sa, Ni, Dha, Pa, Ma, Ga, Ri, Sa. (The same practice of giving Aroha and Avaroha of the ragas in accordance with the modern equivalent notes of Hindustani scale has been followed throughout in this chapter to facilitate clearer understanding.) Repetition of notes, like for example. Pa Pa, Dha Dha, etc. is its peculiarity. It en hances the pleasure of the raga. Sphurita Gamaka admits of forceful repetition of notes. That is why the raga is qualified as ' Amreditasvarairyukta' and 'Sphuritena sobhita*, Hrdayanarayana Deva, who also flourished in 17th century a little after Ahobala, has mentioned both Suddha mela and Raga Saindhava exactly on the lines of Ahobala, Srinivasa has also mentioned Saindhava as derived out of Suddha mela. Bhavabhatta who flourished in l8th century and has quoted Ahobala in many places in his books, has not men tioned Raga Saindhava. It has not also come down to the modern age. Hov/ever, the modern raga Sindhura may be found to be similar to it.